My six-year-old son Billy and I recently had the privilege to lend a hand to “raise” a garden at Kennedy High School in Richmond, California. We arrived mid-morning at a southern exposed site nestled near the school’s track. The work area swarmed with students, school staff, parents, and Urban Tilth, the organizing non-profit who produced the day as part of its project, 2 Farms in 2 Days.
Not too little to help
The intention behind this weekend event aims to produce real, productive farms that, according the organization’s website, “grow food that directly changes the food …

Welcome to the Inaugural Edition of the Outdoor Afro Blog Carnival!
Wooo hooo….confetti falls…
So what is a Blog Carnival anyway? Well, I learned it is a terrific way to spread your blog wings into new topics, while connecting with more people. And that’s all I needed to know before signing up!  But I also recognized the term ‘carnival’ has a cultural meaning for some that is different than the experience of a spin on the ol’ ferris wheel. So I decided to honor the festive connotation of another kind of Carnival …

“You can’t cannot determine the ancestors you inherit, but you can completely determine the kind of ancestor you’ll be.” – Grown in Detroit
Take a look at how Detroit teen moms are reclaiming abandoned neighborhoods and creating farms to feed their children in the film, “Grown in Detroit”, by independent Dutch filmmakers Mascha & Manfred Poppenk.

Trailer ‘Grown in Detroit’ from Mascha Poppenk on Vimeo.
To learn more, visit the film website: http://grownindetroit.tv

flickr.com/prettywarstl: a nice plate!
Thanksgiving in my family is more than the delicious turkey, pies, and cobblers my sister Delane makes; it is also a celebration of food that preserves the memories and experiences of those who have passed on, symbolized through the remaking of family recipes…Cherrie’s dressing, Ella mae’s Pea Salad…the matriarchs of my family pulled greens from their garden for dinner, they plucked the feathers of fresh foul, and cleaned the fish they caught in local lakes for Friday fish fries.
Our family also has gratitude for the new generation …

It might have been a small patch of dirt, a few pots on the porch, or an expanse of acreage. No matter the size, the family garden plot is a seminal part of the African American experience from slavery to land ownership. But after a century of mass black migration north to urban centers, the produce section of the supermarket has supplanted the backyard vegetable garden, which was the source of the freshest collard greens; sweet corn, tomatoes, carrots and more — and folks who ate those foods straight from …